Stop The Slip: 3 Ways To Get Back On Track With Your Healthy Eating Plan

When it comes to weight loss efforts, slips happen.

There’s a moment when you just can’t quite take it anymore. The chocolate you have been resisting for weeks calls out your name. You’ve had a bad day, your willpower reserves have been drained, you’re tired… and you slip. When you’ve started slipping, it can be tough to stop– you’re on ice now, sliding along, propelled by an unseen hand.

It’s a tough time, but it may reassure you to know it’s also inevitable. Dieting is tough; changing your life sounds like it should be the easiest thing in the world, but it’s actually incredibly difficult. You’re subject to the whim of your hormones, your emotions, and your lifestyle; the calm, rational, goal-focused part of you can’t be in control all the time.

Nevertheless, when you have slipped, you now have to get back on the horse — so to speak — and resume your usual efforts. That’s tough, and for every day you slip, the harder it feels.

So, hold out and grab on to a steady hand that can help stop the slide towards complete abandonment of your weight loss goals. Here are three (or four, depending on how you look at it) different ways you can get yourself back to your best.

1) Start tomorrow

“I’ll definitely start eating properly again soon,” it’s tempting to think. “It’s going to be a busy weekend, so maybe on Monday.”

Then Monday arrives. You survey your carrot sticks, your lean meats, and your low calorie intake. You’re really not in the mood. “I’ll start on Wednesday,” you decide, “it’s cruel to try and make myself switch back to healthy eating at the start of the week. Mondays are bad enough as it is.”

The pattern above can continue for literally months. There’s never a good time to make a change that requires a lot of willpower, effort, and some element of self-denial. So if you want to stop the slip, stop it now. Don’t keep postponing a difficult but inevitable task. By starting tomorrow, you have time to prepare, stock up on healthy food, and rid your cupboards of anything that shouldn’t be lurking there.

2 a) Ease yourself in

If you have been slipping for a few weeks (or months), then ease yourself back into your good eating habits. Don’t cut your calories to the bone from the minute you begin; take it slowly, with a daily 100 calorie reduction until you’re more comfortable with the idea of being back on your eating regime. Such a strategy helps you to feel comfortable rather than changing everything at once, which can be jarring and not always compatible with your lifestyle.

When you have cut your calories back to where they need to be, start swapping out foods and making healthy substitutes for the not-so-healthy items you have been eating. In time, little by little, you’ll have transitioned back into eating healthily– and it will happen so quietly, you barely even noticed it happening.

Alternatively…

2 b) Jump start the process

We’re all different, and that’s wonderful, but it also means there are no tried-and-tested rules when it comes to establishing a healthy eating regime. As a result, you may find easing yourself in doesn’t work for you; you need something big, life-changing, that signifies a new era has begun. The delicious shakes from shakethatweight.co.uk are a great option for jump-starting, helping you to make a clear, conscious cut between the bad old days and your newly changed regime.

3) Tell someone

One of the worst things about trying to lose weight is how lonely it can be. This is especially true if your friends are generally slender, or aren’t concerned about weight loss. There’s only so many times you can sit on a night out, sipping water and refusing sugary cocktails, before you feel like you’re missing out.

If you’re surrounded by people who are eating as they please, you need to find an outlet to talk about weight loss with. This doesn’t have to be a one-on-one relationship, either; online forums such as those on reddit.com can allow you to communicate and share your experience with other like-minded people who are trying to navigate the same hurdles as you.

In conclusion

When you’ve slipped from your diet goals, getting back to solid ground can take far longer than you might expect. By choosing one of the above options, you should be able to return to your good habits, and resume your weight loss journey once more. Good luck.